There's an awful lot of Detroit in there at the top, which is to be expected given the season the Red Wings have had (up until recently, I suppose).

Players had to put in a certain amount of minutes per game on the penalty kill, which leaves us with quite a few unheralded defensive players. I'd also give a lot of credence to the quality of competition numbers, as forwards used in a shutdown role obviously have a tougher task when matched up against the best snipers in the league.

Anaheim's defensive crew apparently hasn't missed a beat even with Sami Pahlsson missing considerable time due to injury..

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Anaheim's defensive crew apparently hasn't missed a beat even with Sami Pahlsson missing considerable time due to injury.

Their offense has certainly suffered without Sammy, but swingman Todd Marchant has been a capable replacement, and new guy Ryan Carter has been a pretty good fill-in (for a guy I'd hardly ever heard of, but I generally don't pay enough attention to the Pirates).

Moen and (Rob) Niedermayer don't get enough credit in my books: sure, Pahlsson's great, but those three together are the best checking line in the league in my opinion: just look at the job they did on Ottawa's top line last June. As Earl pointed out, Todd Marchant is also no slouch defensively and a capable fill-in for Pahlsson. Also, I was a bit surprised Burrows made the cut and Ryan Kesler didn't.

Anyone surprised about Datsyuk? We here in Detroit have known about his two-way play for a while now, but it seems to me that Zetterberg gets the credit league-wide for being a defensive forward while Pavel is generally considered more of an offensive guy.

I think both should get Selke consideration, but reputations will probably preclude Pavel from getting that. He's one of the most dangerous backcheckers in the League because of his ability to steal the puck so well.

If I were building a team and needed to pick one guy off that list as my checking centre, it'd be Niedermeyer. Skates so well, hits hard and plays the game like a veteran. Pahlsson does deserve a lot of credit himself for being an elite shutdown guy.

Datsyuk is responsible, but I just have a hard time grouping him with some of the defensive stalwards.

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About Me

A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a radio and TV analyst with TSN and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.

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